A Wolf's Kiss

Chapter XII - A Fallen Star

Before reading this chapter, I recommend going and rereading chapter IX, the refresher may prove to be helpful!

Ceres had never been so nervous in his entire life. He felt the smooth stone road beneath his feet as he walked somberly through the temple's gardens. Finally, he had reached the age of becoming... and tonight he would be taking his last vows and rites to enter the Priesthood of the Aetherites, the Aesir. All of his childhood, Ceres had been serving in the temple. Since he was five years old. He poured over the ancient texts, learning from the Vasilya Prima, the head priestess. After tonight, Ceres would no longer be a student, he himself would become Vasilyos.

The temple gardens were ornate, and filled with trees that had white bark that turned a pale blue color under the light of the full moon. In the distance, he heard the flowing of a brook, and through the crowded leaves and branches above head, Ceres saw a sky full of stars. Aetheria was with him.

Eventually the stone path came to an end, and there stood Lady Maya, the Vasilya Prima. She had been Ceres' mentor and heroine for as long as he could remember. She was so elegant, so graceful, everywhere she stepped it seemed almost as if she were not even touching the ground. As if she were simply too good to touch the cursed earth beneath her. She was dressed as she always was in the white robes of the priestess, and then her sash which all the priests wore with all the symbols ingrained on it in pure silver. Each of the symbols was a name.

Two for Virtus and Deus. One for Aetheria, one for Crius, one for Crius' brother Samael, and one for all the Aetherites.

Ceres, shaking, knelt down humbly before the Priestess.

"Ceres son of Archon..." The woman said, her voice as smooth and soft as silk, but sharp enough to penetrate his skull. "For all ten thousand years our people have been on this earth we have been the keepers of light, and truth, and goodness."

"Central to our people, to our history, is the order of the Aesir. Directly we communicate with our mother Aetheria, and the bringer of justice Virtus. Tonight... you may join that order as Vasilyos. You need only to take your final vows... you may rise."

Ceres slowly stood up from his place on the ground, looking Maya right in her glorious face. She was the daughter of Crius himself, and she was one of the last Aetherites who still shone with his light. Simply looking at her face, with her radiance, was enough to prove to him just how much darkness lived in his own heart... and he longed to be free of it.

"Do you swear to serve the one true god Deus, to the best of your ability, all the days of your life?" Maya asked, reciting the first vow.

"I swear."

"Do you renounce the ways of darkness and our enemy, the false god Malkerath?"

"I do."

"Will you resist the power of darkness and fight against it anywhere you may encounter it?"

"I will."

Lady Maya smiled gently at him. "Then you have taken your vows. You are now forever in the service of our creator. Come now... there is only one thing left to be done my child." The priestess extended a hand and led Ceres through the gardens and eventually they came to a stone alter with a basin at the center of it. Carved in the stone were symbols in the language of Arutan, Ceres' ancient mother tongue.

Ceres watched as Maya filled an ornate, ivory jug with water from the nearby brook, and poured it in the basin.

"Water is an object sacred to Queen Aetheria. In it, we perfectly see her light reflected to us... and sometimes we may see her truth revealed in it. If we have the gift of sight..." Maya set the jug aside, and took our from her robe a ceremonial dagger. She ran the knife down her palm, and squeezed a few drops of her blood into the basin with the water. "Now you." She said, holding the knife out to Ceres.